Month: April 2015

Media writing workshops: news of the next classes from May to July this summer

DSCN3273

It’s time to reveal plans for the next round of workshops.

Having listened to feedback from the first two groups for more one-on-one tuition time, I’ve decided to run a two-hour split session.

Here’s how it will work.

We will spend the first hour exploring a topic in depth with guided content from me, drawing on real-life experience as a jobbing freelancer and academic theory from my role as a journalism lecturer at UCLan.

The first three topics I am proposing are:

  • Interview skills (May)
  • Pitching ideas to editors (June)
  • Going freelance (July)

The second hour will be given over personal tuition (say 10-15 mins each) and will require you to come with a work-in-progress draft of an article, a blog post, a pitch etc.

I am expecting small groups for these workshops – probably around six people per session.

The proposed dates (*subject to change) are as follows:

  • Thursday, May 14, 7-9pm
  • Friday, June 12, 10-12 noon
  • Thursday, July 16, 7-9pm

You can book one session for £40pp, or book all three and receive a discount price of £100. Your place is only confirmed once I have received a payment – ideally by PayPal via the workshops link at my website.

All three sessions will be hosted at the new CHIC Chester co-working hub, located right next to Chester train station. You can find out more about the venue at the CHIC website.

The venue offers complimentary tea and coffee. We will send out for sandwiches for day sessions and retire to a local pub after evening sessions for a pint.

Please email me with your queries.

Liked this? Try also Feedback from learners at the second workshop.

Comment below.

The Isle of Man: a Daily Telegraph travel series

DSCN3586

I finished March with a big commission – that’s why it’s taking me so long to catch up with site updates.

Myself and another Daily Telegraph writer spent a long weekend on the Isle of Man with a few to producing a series of articles for both print and online to showcase aspects of the island’s tourism offer for this year.

My brief was to cover three key areas: heritage, family travel and food.

It was a packed few days of steam trains and country roads, seafood and local ales, sea views and country escapes.

I felt by the end of the trip I had finally got to understand more of the island and its low-key charms after a previous visit left me unconvinced.

Best of all, I had the opportunity to meet local of interesting local characters, including Will and Charlotte from the Apple Orphanage [pictured above] outside Peel.

The passion and dedication of these local food heroes, and many more like them, proved to me that there’s a quiet foodie revolution taking place on the island.

I suspect I’ll be back to taste more.

Read the final edits of the stories:

Savour delicious Manx food and drink

An island rich in heritage, beauty and history

A Family Getaway

What did you think of this story? Post your comments below.

Liked this? Try also Local food heroes in Cheshire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glyndwr’s Way: Walking the trail of a national folk hero in Mid Wales

DSCN3503

It was the day of the spring solar eclipse.

While others gathered in workplaces and snatched glimpses from public transport, I was lucky enough to be in a field in Mid Wales with a clear view across dew-sugared fields.

I was on assignment at that time for Greentraveller.co.uk, walking sections of the Glyndwr’s Way National Trail.

The eclipse arrived with a beautiful spring morning and the countryside around Machynlleth proved itself – once more – to be full of mythology, spirituality and intrigue.

Here’s an extract from my article:

That night, Romy Shovelton [pictured above] described her journey from working farmhouse to five-star eco-retreat over a pint of locally brewed Monty’s MPA pale ale at her local pub, The Aleppo Merchant Inn.

“I lived 23 years in Notting Hill but, when I first drove up here in 2007, I felt like I was coming home,” she said. “It’s like I was supposed to care for this land.”

We set out from Tyddyn Retreat early the next morning, spring lambs gambling in the fields from the farm across the way, to pick up the trail on the tops over Machynlleth near Bwlch.

Canary-yellow daffodils dotted the trail and flowering tufts of bracken lined the path as we descended a set of old Roman steps to stroll into the bustling little town.

Read the full story shortly at Greentraveller.co.uk.

What did you think of this story? Post your comments below.

Liked this? Try also Pink Ribbons.

Exploring the industrial heritage of Cheshire at Lion Salt Works

DSCN3599

 I spent a day just before the Easter break talking salt. No, really.

Salt, it transpires, is a huge industry, especially in a town like Northwich, Cheshire, where the salt industry started with the Romans and fostered the development of its booming chemical industry today.

I had come to Northwich for a press preview of the Lion Salt Works – it’s just one of a handful of industrial heritage buildings of its type across the world and it’s right here in the Northwest of England.

The Lion Salt Works will re-open to the public as a visitor attraction in May after a four-year, £9.9m restoration project to save the crumbling historic site.

It’s tough bringing industrial-heritage buildings to life but Paul Stockton [pictured above] made the work-in-progress site come alive with his stories of the daily grind.

My full article will appear in Discover Britain magazine in time for Heritage Open Days weekend this autumn.

But, meanwhile, here’s a sneak preview:

Paul Stockton was just 20 years when he came to the Lion Salt Works in Northwich as a student labourer. It was 1970 and Paul, who went on to work as a maths teacher, earned £5 per week, hauling 28lb blocks of fresh salt around the site.

“It was very hot and steamy. The whole building smelt strangely clean but you could always taste the salt on your tongue,” he remembers of those days, stripped to the waist in boilerhouse conditions ‘lofting’ or hauling blocks of salt around the drying room.

“It was very hard work and the foreman was always cracking the whip. But I also remember the camaraderie,” he adds. “I’d go to the pub every lunchtime with my workmates and we’d spend our wages.”

What did you think of this story? Post your comments below.

Liked this? Try also Guest blog for Heritage Open Days.